Faced with the possibility of having his draft stock harmed by a report of a police investigation, one of the South Carolina players involved in a TMZ report said he’s innocent.
The initial report said that police wanted to find a group of South Carolina players “for questioning at the very least” after an incident outside a New York nightclub last week. South Carolina defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles and cornerback Victor Hampton were named in the report, which said a club promoter suffered facial injuries in an attack.
When reached by The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C.,, Hampton hung up on a reporter, but Quarles said he never went to the bar mentioned in the report and wasn’t in a fight.
“I’m [mad] about it because it’s going to hurt my draft status,” Quarles said. “I’m about to do everything I possibly can to get my name cleared because it’s not fair. I had nothing to do with this.”
Quarles and Hampton, along with former teammates Connor Shaw, Bruce Ellington and Chaz Sutton, were in New York last week for an ESPN The Magazine photo shoot.
Quarles said he thought police wanted to talk to Sutton, but Sutton said he wasn’t there either.
“No, I actually hung out with my friends that night,” Sutton said. “I wasn’t even involved or there so I couldn’t really tell you. I don’t know what is going on.”
The police will sort this one out eventually, but at the moment, the one that looks worst is Hampton, who refused the first opportunity to proclaim his innocence.